“We’ll do two teams instead of three,” the manager said. “Red versus green! Choose your teams, then hop on in the boats.”

“Can I join ’em too?” Jabali asked, lingering by the yellow boat he had just been in. 

The manager frowned and pointed out, “But uneven teams means one person is at a disadvantage.”

“That’s fine by me!” Jabali chuckled, hopping back into his yellow boat. 

“I’ll go with Ren!” Sarala said, moving closer to the girl.

Zyn raised an eyebrow. “Umm—Ren’s my sister. Shouldn’t we be a team?”

Ren bit her bottom lip. “Well, I mean—”

“Do you want to be red or green, Zynivus?” C3 asked.

Zyn scowled at him and headed for the other side of the ring, where the red boats sat on the ground. They hopped over the low rim and sat down on the cushions; the boats were miniature compared to boats used for transportation, yet more comfortable than Jabali’s boat; even the lack of wheels was no issue since the boats hovered. A steering wheel and one control stick sat in front of them, the stick able to move the boat forward and backward. A single button was labeled as the brake. 

C3 got into the other red boat, while Ren and Sarala took the green ones. The manager bustled about, re-enchanting the boats with air magic. They then stepped back to the walkway.

“Are you ready?” they called. 

“Yeah!” Ren and Jabali exclaimed, the only two excited for the game.

The manager twirled their wand, and the five boats lifted into the air. “Go!” they yowled. “If you’re hit three times, your boat is out!”

Zyn gripped the steering wheel, but didn’t push their boat forward. Jabali was headed towards Ren’s boat, a grin on his face as he tried to pummel her to the side. Sarala headed for C3, her face grim as if she was going to war, her hair flying out behind her.

Shrugging, Zyn hit their stick forward and made the boat move towards C3 as well. Why not do a bit of backstabbing? Zyn never wanted to be a part of C3’s team, after all.

The boat seemed to take ages to reach C3, by which point Sarala had already hit his boat. Zyn bumped into Sarala’s boat, as she wasn’t able to move out of the way in time. 

“Thank you for avenging me, Zynivus!” C3 called.

Zyn scowled in reply.

Sarala backed her boat up, then sent it flying back towards Zyn. Zyn barely managed to move the vessel out of her path, and she streamed by and hit Ren’s boat instead.

“Hey! Sarala!” Ren called. “We’re supposed to be on the same team!”

“Ha!” Zyn yowled, pointing.

They didn’t have time to celebrate though, as Jabali soon hit their boat. Zyn grabbed the wheel tightly to prevent themself from being knocked over. They then sat up and went after Jabali, C3 forgotten for the time being.

Jabali was out of the game after Zyn hit him, which meant Ren must have struck him twice already. He shrugged and remained in his boat, not allowed to get out until the game was done and no vessels were flying around.

Zyn then turned their boat to see what was happening in the rest of the game. But Ren appeared out of nowhere, slamming into her sibling’s boat hard.

“Haha! Got you, Zyn!” she called as her boat continued on its way.

“Oh, yeah?” Zyn chuckled. “I’m coming for ya!”

They pressed their boat forward, ignoring the battle Sarala and C3 were in off to the side.

“Come on, boat!” Zyn muttered. “Go! Move! Faster!”

The boat seemed to speed up a little as they kept jabbing the stick forward. They were gaining on Ren and—wait, was the boat actually going fast? Zyn reached for the brake button, but their hand slipped away entirely as their boat crashed full-force into Ren’s ahead of them.

The boats smashed loudly, sparks flying. The initial slam led to a large jolt as Zyn hit the stone wall. Pain shot through their elbow as they gripped the steering wheel tightly, their whole body tense and their eyes wide in horror. The boat spun several times, making them dizzy. They could hear cries all around, see bright red and orange flashes, feel heat…

Finally, their boat came to a stop mid-air, continuing to hover despite being demolished. They blinked in confusion, terror thrumming through their body. The command stick and brake button had been torn off, the steering wheel barely holding on. Then, they realized fire blazed beside them, burning away at the splintered wood and torn cushions at the front of the boat.

“AHH!” Zyn yelped and scrambled backwards, trying to get away from the fire as it came nearer, licking hungrily at the dented boat. “Help!”

A second after the cry had escaped them, they felt sturdy hands on their shoulders. They were soon lifted out of the burning boat and through the air, until their shaky feet were placed on the ground. 

“T-thanks,” they stuttered to Jabali.

But Jabali wasn’t paying attention to Zyn, running past the burning boat. Zyn’s heart seemed to stop as they thought of their sister.

{Ren! Ren! Are you okay?} Zyn asked telepathically, chasing after Jabali and ignoring the pain still jolting their elbow.

On the other side of the ring, Ren’s boat was in worse shape. It was completely torn in half, both pieces still floating in the air, while splintered wood and cushions lay all around the ground. The fire was consuming the wood rapidly. Horror flooded Zyn, their breathing strangled as they tried to make it in time.

{Ren! REN!}

Sarala was already at the scene, ignoring the flames as she hurried forward to one half of the boat. She stomped on the ground, which sent her over the lapping flames and into the vessel. The hunk of boat shifted in the air at the abrupt weight slamming into it, but luckily did not hit the nearby wall again. 

After several seconds passed, as Jabali and Zyn finally made it to the boat, Sarala reappeared. She hopped out of the vessel and landed on the stone ground, Ren’s bloody body in her arms. Zyn choked at the sight of their sister, tears running down their cheeks at once.

“Move away from the boat!” Jabali yelled.

He grabbed Ren and bolted, allowing Sarala to run without burden. Zyn paused, too shocked to move for a moment, then darted after them. Not even five seconds had passed when the boat piece exploded behind them, wood and flame flying. Zyn dropped to the ground to shield their head, but after waiting a moment, they got to their feet again.

Jabali had Ren laying on the ground by the pathway. The manager was beside him, pacing anxiously. Sarala stood nearby, keeping her eyes on Ren. C3 sat in his still-hovering boat. Zyn ignored them all, dropping to their twin’s side. 

Ren had scratches along her face and arms, and a few bruises that were already forming. Her glasses managed to stay on her face, but had rough cracks along them. Her chest barely moved. 

“Ren?” Zyn choked out, nudging their sister’s arm gently. “Ren?”

Several long seconds passed, then Ren stirred. Zyn let out a sigh of relief as her eyes blinked open. She looked confused for a moment, staring up at Zyn with wonder in her eyes. 

“Are y-y-you o-okay?” they choked out.

She lifted a hand to her bloodied forehead, then slowly sat up. “I-I think so,” she mumbled. 

“Can you move your legs?” Jabali asked.

Ren shook both of her legs, then flexed her feet. She nodded, looking relieved that nothing seemed broken.

Jabali sighed, his shoulders relaxing for a moment. Then, he turned on the manager, asking in a strangely calm voice, “What on Sater happened?”

The manager shrunk back in Jabali’s shadow, as if he had yelled at them. “This has never happened before!” they mumbled. “I’m sorry! The boats are not set at high speeds. Unless—” The manager looked at Zyn. “I forgot to check for wands! Do you have your wand on you?”

Zyn shook their head, turning out their shorts pockets. Their useless wand still sat in the family tower at the school, collecting dust.

“Does anyone have their wand on them?” the manager asked briskly, scanning each teen’s face.

“I think I had mine,” Ren murmured. “But I swear I didn’t use it. I don’t even know where it is…”

“It’s probably burning in the boat,” Sarala grunted. She turned to the manager and added, “I don’t have mine, either.”

The manager narrowed their eyes, then looked to Jabali.

“I don’t use a wand,” Jabali said simply.

“It was C3!” Zyn muttered to Ren.

“What was that?” the manager asked sharply.

Zyn glared at the redheaded boy over their shoulder, their body still shaking after what had happened. “You have your wand, don’t you? And you have air magic! You sped up my boat and made me hit Ren!”

C3 stared back at Zyn quietly. He opened his mouth to reply, but the manager was quicker.

“You are banned from the game center,” the manager said brusquely to C3. “I will be writing up an incident report. All of you, follow me!”

They waved their wand, and each boat settled on the ground gently, allowing C3 to get out of his. The destroyed boats were almost all burned out, and the manager sent a quick wave of air to dash the remaining flames once C3 had walked out of the range of flying embers. Zyn shuddered to think how much worse the impact would have been if the manager had allowed the boats to hit the ground.

Before Zyn could help Ren to her feet, a loud shriek sounded. The manager jumped and turned around. But it was just the family mirror, which Ren pulled from her pocket.

“Oh, no!” she gasped.

The mirror had several long cracks across its surface. She tried to answer Ak-tu’s call, but the glass was unable to detect her touch. The shrieking continued until Ak-tu’s mirror gave up the attempt to connect.

“We’ll call him back when we get home,” Jabali said. “Let’s take care of this mess first, eh?”